- By Kamal Kumar
- Tue, 30 Jan 2024 03:48 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday accused the BJP of vote tempering in the Chandigarh Mayoral election which took place earlier today. This came following a high drama which unfolded in the Assembly Hall of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation (MC), when the presiding officer declared eight votes of Congress and AAP members invalid, paving the way for BJP candidate Manoj Sonkar to easily win the mayoral election.
As soon as the results came out, party chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal launched a scathing attack on the BJP, accusing it of 'Desh-Droh' (treason). He also hit out at the party for the 'dishonesty' in the election, saying that if BJP can stoop so low in mayoral elections, imagine how further it can go in national elections.
Why AAP is accusing the BJP of vote-tempering?
Chandigarh's mayoral elections were supposed to be an easy win for the AAP-Congress alliance as their combined vote share stands at 20. However, AAP's candidate Kuldeep Kumar only received 12 votes (including that of Congress), and fell short of the BJP candidate who managed to take home 16 members in the 35+1 seats municipal body. The presiding election officer declared 8 votes as invalid, which left AAP's candidate with only 12 members votes.
What Kejriwal has said?
"How dishonesty has been done in broad daylight in the Chandigarh mayor elections is extremely worrying. If these people can stoop so low in a mayor's election, then they can go to any extent in the country's elections. This is very worrying..." Kejriwal wrote on the microblogging site X.
चंडीगढ़ मेयर चुनाव में दिन दहाड़े जिस तरह से बेईमानी की गई है, वो बेहद चिंताजनक है। यदि एक मेयर चुनाव में ये लोग इतना गिर सकते हैं तो देश के चुनाव में तो ये किसी भी हद तक जा सकते हैं। ये बेहद चिंताजनक है।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) January 30, 2024
Rajya Sabha MP of the AAP party also lashed out at the poll officer and BJP in a press conference, saying that when a vote is declared "invalid", the presiding officer had to show the vote to agents of all parties.
"But today this didn't happen... neither the election agent nor the deputy commissioner was shown the ballot paper before declaring it invalid. If they can do this for mayoral polls, imagine what they can do for Lok Sabha polls," Mr Chadha said.
AAP files plea in High Court
After the poll drama, the AAP party reached out to the High Court. Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh highlighted Kumar's request for an urgent hearing. Singh stated that eight votes were invalidated without justification and urged for the election records to be securely sealed.